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CNN Live Today

Israel Resists Jenin Investigation

Aired April 30, 2002 - 10:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to get some perspective right now straight from Schneider. That would be our man. CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider joining us from Washington with a closer look at some of the top stories in the news. Bill, good morning to you.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning. You can call me Prince William if you like.

KAGAN: Prince William. How about just Prince?

SCHNEIDER: We're always confused.

KAGAN: I know. It's a problem, but you deal with it so well. I want to look at the situation, the compromise that looks like it is being worked out to allow Yasser Arafat to have greater movement within the -- within the West Bank, and that is the emergence of these British and U.S. monitors, as they are being called, who are going to look after these Palestinian prisoners.

If you look at the Bush administration, this is an administration that didn't want a lot to do with the Middle East. Now drawn in as monitors. Bill, some of the prisoners have 18 year sentences. Is like an 18 year commitment for the U.S. to be part of the situation?

SCHNEIDER: Could be. I mean, this war has been going on in the Middle East for 54 years, which is longer than the Cold War has gone on. The United States claims that these are not soldiers, so it doesn't violate their notion of peace keeping forces...

KAGAN: They are not military or troops.

SCHNEIDER: They are not military. They're civilians, they are supposed to be trained -- the U.S. and British, supposed to be trained in prison work, and they're not there as jailers, they are there to watch the jailers to make sure the Palestinian Authorities keep these prisoners under lock and key, and the Palestinians want them there because they want to make sure the Israelis don't come in and capture them, because the Israelis want to put them on trial in an Israeli court. So they are there...

KAGAN: But part of the deal is that they don't get turned over to the Israelis.

SCHNEIDER: That's exactly right, and the whole notion is that the United States will do this as long as it's agreeable to both parties.

KAGAN: Now something that is not...

SCHNEIDER: Which is...

KAGAN: Go ahead, I am sorry.

SCHNEIDER: I was going to say, that's the deal.

KAGAN: That is the deal.

SCHNEIDER: They said they weren't going to -- the United States doesn't like to have peacekeeping forces between warring parties, but this is a deal that's agreeable to both parties. This question is, is it a foot in the door towards the presence of more international forces between the Israelis and the Palestinians?

KAGAN: Well, that is what the Israelis seem to be saying.

SCHNEIDER: Palestinians hope so -- the Israelis do not want that to happen.

KAGAN: OK. Here's another thing the Israelis don't want to happen. There is this UN commission waiting to go into Jenin, that Palestinian refugee camp to look and see what happened in the military incursion. The Israelis say that this is just -- it is set up, they are being set up by this anti-Israel group, and there is no way they can come out looking good.

But Bill, in the PR war that's out there, the Israelis -- it seems like time after time they don't know how to play the game here, because the more time goes on, the more people can say, look, they must be hiding something.

SCHNEIDER: Well, the Israelis have calculated that most of the world is against them. Only the United States is a reliable ally, sometimes Britain, but generally, only the United States stands with Israel as a reliable ally, and even there, they are under pressure from the United States as in the Arafat deal to make concessions. I think the Israelis are expecting that if they make the concession as they've done to allow Yasser Arafat to travel, the United States might be with Israel, might support Israel in its resistance, or at least its intention to modify that UN investigating team.

Because frankly, the Israelis are very worried that this team can come in, it will be stacked with people who are critical of Israel, they will put out some report which the Arab world and the third world and the Europeans and everyone who is critical of Israel will use as a pretext to isolate Israel even further.

KAGAN: All right. Bill, I want you to zoom with us thousands of miles away to a state that you and I both love, and that is California.

SCHNEIDER: Right. KAGAN: President Bush spending a couple of days there. You have kind of got to wonder why this is not exactly a lovefest state for him. He lost by over a million votes in 2000, and he got involved in the governor's race when it was a primary, and he picked the wrong guy.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. I can give you the answer in one word: Money.

KAGAN: Money, money.

SCHNEIDER: California has a lot of money for both Democrats and Republicans, and he's there to raise money for the Republican party. For the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bill Simon Jr. who was nominated. The White House supported another candidate, and I must say he was greeted -- the president was greeted with some not very good news because the latest field pole in California shows that the race starts with Simon running 14 points behind the incumbent Democratic governor Gray Davis. SO it doesn't look terrific for Bill Simon.

The question is, will Californians being willing to elect or even consider voting for a Republican candidate who is anti-abortion? This is one of the most pro-abortion rights states in the Union, and Republicans, including the White House knew that it was risky for Republicans to nominate someone who is anti-abortion.

KAGAN: Yes, if they wanted that, they could have picked Richard Riordan, and they didn't, and a lot of people didn't give Bill Simon even a chance against Richard Riordan, and he surprised them then. So it will go on, the mystery goes on.

SCHNEIDER: It certainly will.

KAGAN: Bill Schneider, always great to see you -- or Prince Bill. Prince William. Appreciate that so much.

SCHNEIDER: Good to see you. Thank you.

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